Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Into the breach (once more)


The house is full again, my daughter is back from her trip to New Orleans (she brought us beignet and hurricane mixes), my cousin is here from Trinidad, and this weekend we're all heading north to Ithaca to bring my daughter back to school for her senior year, and to help install my niece in her freshman year of college. My niece lives in Maryland and we'll meet up with her and her parents and sister in Ithaca. My husband and I will celebrate our 29th anniversary while we're there, or rather, we'll be doing the five hour drive back to the city at some point on that day.

Who knew when we were picking a date to get married that we would spend a stretch of years moving kids back into college on our anniversary. We don't mind, really. Next year, the thirtieth, both our kids will be finished with college. We might do a big trip to somewhere, just the man and me, to mark the milestone. Hopefully we'll have the disposable income once college tuition is no longer in the mix, though I am still a freelancer, so fingers crossed the work keeps coming.

We've told our kids they're on their own financially for grad school (we'll help here and there if we can). My daughter has spied a master's program that has her imagination going, and my son, after declaring with force upon graduating from college that he had no intention of going to grad school, actually asked us the other day how it was that we hadn't encouraged him to go to grad school. We reminded him of his declaration, and while he didn't remember it, he had to admit it sounded like him. He's not so absolute on the matter anymore.

He has to have surgery for his torn ACL in September. He put it off so he could do all his trips and adventures that were already planned for the summer, including hiking up a mountain in Colorado. With his torn ACL, he still rides his bike to work every day; the knee doesn't seem to be slowing him down. He explained that he could run a 100 meter dash on that knee, but if he had to stop suddenly or swivel in any direction, it would give way. He says a person can live with a torn ACL, but he's an athlete, and wants to be a firefighter-paramedic, so he cannot. I have heard that the recovery from the surgery is painful, and it will be a full year of rehab before he is completely back to normal.

The pictures are my kids and my niece at 3, 5 and 7 and then sixteen years later at 19, 21, and 23. Both photos were taken at family events in Orlando. You know how much I enjoy these then and now juxtapositions. I think what I love most about the top picture, apart from the great effort my always active son is making to stand still for the camera, is how protective my niece is of her little cousin even then. The sister bond was already strong.


18 comments:

  1. A very old and beloved friend of mine from nursing school messaged me on FB this morning about how sad she was that her last child was moving to college today. How painful it is.
    I told her not to worry. That she'll barely get a breath before the empty nest is no longer empty.
    I don't think it's going to be that hard for your son to recover from his torn ACL surgery. Jessie's had it twice and has gone on with her life pretty quickly.
    Oh, Lady Mother! Those beautiful babes of yours!

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    1. Mary, thanks for the good news about Jessie recovering well from ACL surgery! You know, I look at that top picture of my boy, and he was about the same age as Owen is now, and his 5-year-oldness reminds me so much of your precious grandson.And really, my girl in that top photo kind of reminds me of Gibson! Is that weird?

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  2. Oh, I love the photos! So much personality shining through.

    My husband and I are at the end of the kids-to-college years. And we did take a trip to the west coast for our 30-year anniversary in 2014 -- it was wonderful.

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    1. jo(e), you are a couple of years ahead of us! sometimes i wonder if we know how to travel without the kids! nice to see you.

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  3. I love the present day photo, but the old one is extra precious! Our oldest is just starting secondary school (high school?) and it's already ridiculously expensive. Not looking forward to that part of further education.

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  4. Oh my goodness, your son's expression in the throwback pic is too funny! So cute :) Sounds like a busy burst, hope everything goes smoothly and is lots of fun :)

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    1. HBF, I love my boy's expression in that long ago photo too! Thanks for being here.

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  5. Beautiful Brilliant Young People! Love both pictures. Time sure flies doesn't it.

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  6. The photos are wonderful. My oldest granddaughter goes to college next year and then another the following year, two the next year, a break and then 1 more and two more the following year. Then there will be a big break until the 3 babies grow up and take their turn. Time does go by so very, very fast.

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    1. Kristin, the college march has begun! Congrats to all your bright young people! xo

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  7. I have two friends who've recovered quite quickly, too, from ACL surgery, and one is in his mid-40s! I imagine he's in superlative shape and will get back in tip-top form for paramedic/firefighting! I'm planning on having my son talk to him at some point about that field!

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    1. Elizabeth, good to hear that about ACL surgery recovery. My son is taking it rather lightly so I hope this will be his experience too. And whenever you want to connect our boys for a firefighting-EMT convo, just let me know. Hopefully the fire dept in LA is a little easier to get into than the one in NYC.

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  8. What is that saying about time flying when one is having fun??? You are having quite the adventure...Happy anniversary and the best to your son as he faces surgery.

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    1. e, thanks for the good wishes! i often think time has speeded up. a day, a month, a year used to take much longer! xo

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  9. Your daughter is going into her SENIOR YEAR?! How is that possible?!

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